TSDX React User Guide

Congrats! You just saved yourself hours of work by bootstrapping this project with TSDX. Let’s get you oriented with what’s here and how to use it.

This TSDX setup is meant for developing React component libraries (not apps!) that can be published to NPM. If you’re looking to build a React-based app, you should use create-react-app, razzle, nextjs, gatsby, or react-static.

If you’re new to TypeScript and React, checkout this handy cheatsheet

Commands

TSDX scaffolds your new library inside /src, and also sets up a Parcel-based playground for it inside /example.

The recommended workflow is to run TSDX in one terminal:

npm start # or yarn start

This builds to /dist and runs the project in watch mode so any edits you save inside src causes a rebuild to /dist.

Then run the example inside another:

cd example
npm i # or yarn to install dependencies
npm start # or yarn start

The default example imports and live reloads whatever is in /dist, so if you are seeing an out of date component, make sure TSDX is running in watch mode like we recommend above. No symlinking required, we use Parcel's aliasing.

To do a one-off build, use npm run build or yarn build.

To run tests, use npm test or yarn test.

Configuration

Code quality is set up for you with prettier, husky, and lint-staged. Adjust the respective fields in package.json accordingly.

Jest

Jest tests are set up to run with npm test or yarn test.

Bundle analysis

Calculates the real cost of your library using size-limit with npm run size and visulize it with npm run analyze.

Setup Files

This is the folder structure we set up for you:

/example
  index.html
  index.tsx       # test your component here in a demo app
  package.json
  tsconfig.json
/src
  index.tsx       # EDIT THIS
/test
  blah.test.tsx   # EDIT THIS
.gitignore
package.json
README.md         # EDIT THIS
tsconfig.json

React Testing Library

We do not set up react-testing-library for you yet, we welcome contributions and documentation on this.

Rollup

TSDX uses Rollup as a bundler and generates multiple rollup configs for various module formats and build settings. See Optimizations for details.

TypeScript

tsconfig.json is set up to interpret dom and esnext types, as well as react for jsx. Adjust according to your needs.

Continuous Integration

GitHub Actions

Two actions are added by default:

• main which installs deps w/ cache, lints, tests, and builds on all pushes against a Node and OS matrix
• size which comments cost comparison of your library on every pull request using size-limit

Optimizations

Please see the main tsdx optimizations docs. In particular, know that you can take advantage of development-only optimizations:

// ./types/index.d.ts
declare var __DEV__: boolean;

// inside your code...
if (__DEV__) {
  console.log('foo');
}

You can also choose to install and use invariant and warning functions.

Module Formats

CJS, ESModules, and UMD module formats are supported.

The appropriate paths are configured in package.json and dist/index.js accordingly. Please report if any issues are found.

Deploying the Example Playground

The Playground is just a simple Parcel app, you can deploy it anywhere you would normally deploy that. Here are some guidelines for manually deploying with the Netlify CLI (npm i -g netlify-cli):

cd example # if not already in the example folder
npm run build # builds to dist
netlify deploy # deploy the dist folder

Alternatively, if you already have a git repo connected, you can set up continuous deployment with Netlify:

netlify init
# build command: yarn build && cd example && yarn && yarn build
# directory to deploy: example/dist
# pick yes for netlify.toml

Named Exports

Per Palmer Group guidelines, always use named exports. Code split inside your React app instead of your React library.

Including Styles

There are many ways to ship styles, including with CSS-in-JS. TSDX has no opinion on this, configure how you like.

For vanilla CSS, you can include it at the root directory and add it to the files section in your package.json, so that it can be imported separately by your users and run through their bundler's loader.

Publishing to NPM

We recommend using np.

Usage with Lerna

When creating a new package with TSDX within a project set up with Lerna, you might encounter a Cannot resolve dependency error when trying to run the example project. To fix that you will need to make changes to the package.json file inside the example directory.

The problem is that due to the nature of how dependencies are installed in Lerna projects, the aliases in the example project's package.json might not point to the right place, as those dependencies might have been installed in the root of your Lerna project.

Change the alias to point to where those packages are actually installed. This depends on the directory structure of your Lerna project, so the actual path might be different from the diff below.

   "alias": {
-    "react": "../node_modules/react",
-    "react-dom": "../node_modules/react-dom"
+    "react": "../../../node_modules/react",
+    "react-dom": "../../../node_modules/react-dom"
   },

An alternative to fixing this problem would be to remove aliases altogether and define the dependencies referenced as aliases as dev dependencies instead. However, that might cause other problems.

mylib

Getting started

To make it easy for you to get started with GitLab, here's a list of recommended next steps.

Already a pro? Just edit this README.md and make it your own. Want to make it easy? Use the template at the bottom!

Add your files

• [ ] Create or upload files
• [ ] Add files using the command line or push an existing Git repository with the following command:

cd existing_repo
git remote add origin https://git.tarmeez.co/abdelrahman.youssef/mylib.git
git branch -M main
git push -uf origin main

Integrate with your tools

• [ ] Set up project integrations

Collaborate with your team

• [ ] Invite team members and collaborators
• [ ] Create a new merge request
• [ ] Automatically close issues from merge requests
• [ ] Enable merge request approvals
• [ ] Set auto-merge

Test and Deploy

Use the built-in continuous integration in GitLab.

• [ ] Get started with GitLab CI/CD
• [ ] Analyze your code for known vulnerabilities with Static Application Security Testing (SAST)
• [ ] Deploy to Kubernetes, Amazon EC2, or Amazon ECS using Auto Deploy
• [ ] Use pull-based deployments for improved Kubernetes management
• [ ] Set up protected environments

Editing this README

When you're ready to make this README your own, just edit this file and use the handy template below (or feel free to structure it however you want - this is just a starting point!). Thanks to makeareadme.com for this template.

Suggestions for a good README

Every project is different, so consider which of these sections apply to yours. The sections used in the template are suggestions for most open source projects. Also keep in mind that while a README can be too long and detailed, too long is better than too short. If you think your README is too long, consider utilizing another form of documentation rather than cutting out information.

Name

Choose a self-explaining name for your project.

Description

Let people know what your project can do specifically. Provide context and add a link to any reference visitors might be unfamiliar with. A list of Features or a Background subsection can also be added here. If there are alternatives to your project, this is a good place to list differentiating factors.

Badges

On some READMEs, you may see small images that convey metadata, such as whether or not all the tests are passing for the project. You can use Shields to add some to your README. Many services also have instructions for adding a badge.

Visuals

Depending on what you are making, it can be a good idea to include screenshots or even a video (you'll frequently see GIFs rather than actual videos). Tools like ttygif can help, but check out Asciinema for a more sophisticated method.

Installation

Within a particular ecosystem, there may be a common way of installing things, such as using Yarn, NuGet, or Homebrew. However, consider the possibility that whoever is reading your README is a novice and would like more guidance. Listing specific steps helps remove ambiguity and gets people to using your project as quickly as possible. If it only runs in a specific context like a particular programming language version or operating system or has dependencies that have to be installed manually, also add a Requirements subsection.

Usage

Use examples liberally, and show the expected output if you can. It's helpful to have inline the smallest example of usage that you can demonstrate, while providing links to more sophisticated examples if they are too long to reasonably include in the README.

Support

Tell people where they can go to for help. It can be any combination of an issue tracker, a chat room, an email address, etc.

Roadmap

If you have ideas for releases in the future, it is a good idea to list them in the README.

Contributing

State if you are open to contributions and what your requirements are for accepting them.

For people who want to make changes to your project, it's helpful to have some documentation on how to get started. Perhaps there is a script that they should run or some environment variables that they need to set. Make these steps explicit. These instructions could also be useful to your future self.

You can also document commands to lint the code or run tests. These steps help to ensure high code quality and reduce the likelihood that the changes inadvertently break something. Having instructions for running tests is especially helpful if it requires external setup, such as starting a Selenium server for testing in a browser.

Authors and acknowledgment

Show your appreciation to those who have contributed to the project.

License

For open source projects, say how it is licensed.

Project status

If you have run out of energy or time for your project, put a note at the top of the README saying that development has slowed down or stopped completely. Someone may choose to fork your project or volunteer to step in as a maintainer or owner, allowing your project to keep going. You can also make an explicit request for maintainers.